The trap door creaked open above as Brendan Boris popped his head up. Keeping low, he looked and found no one. He hopped out and reached a hand down, helping Emily out of the secret passage way. Wally and Carter followed, both slightly nervous about where they were.

And it wasn't until a match was struck and a candle lit that Emily saw the reasoning behind Wally and Carter's fear.

The room they stood in was designed as a medical room. A long table sat on one side of the room, covered with cloth and tools, some unusual in design. The table was also covered in ink, as were a few of the clots and tools. But the true reason sat in the center of the room.

Another Boris was strapped to a table, his chest pried open, revealing inky innards. His head was lolled to the side, mouth open and tongue hanging out. It's eyes were crossed out, giving a cartoonish death look. A thick and heavy pipe stood behind the table, attached to the dead Boris. Ink and blood dripped from the toon and Emily nearly gagged at the sight.

She turned her head away, tears prickling in her eyes. Wally wrapped her in a hug, hiding her face under his chin.

"Why?" Emily sputtered, "Why!?"

The wolves could give no answer.

Suddenly, a noise was heard. A low gurgling noise that came from the pipe before ink began to sputter out of the dead toon.

The four of them watched and waited, hearing only the sound of machinery thunder and creak in the silence of the room.

Emily looked at Brendan, "Is… is the ink machine on?"

Brendan only nodded.

More noises were heard then, footsteps… and they were coming.

Brendan opened the trap door, allowing both Wally and Carter to jump inside. Emily followed behind as Brendan closed the door. With the wolves behind her, standing close by, Emily strained to hear any more movement.

Loud steps landed on the wood and a voice began to suddenly shout, "Then where is she, Samuel?!"

Another muffled voice answered, clearly Sammy Lawrence's, "No one's seen her for a few hours, Mr. Drew… maybe she left for the day? Allister didn't show up either today is what Max told me. There might be a bug going around."

"Well, bug or not, I want to know where Emily is!" Joey's voice thundered.

Emily shook at the sound of her boss' voice. He was clearly angry…

She made a move to open the trap door, but Brendan stopped her, pointing to the floor above. Emily looked to see a small crack in the floor and watched as the shadows over head made movements on the floor.

"Boss, Emily has been working incredibly hard these past weeks. You can't just continue to work like this…"

"Why not? I created this company! I get to say what I want from my workers! There is no AWOL business going on here!"

"Joey," Sammy sighed, trying to keep his calm, "We are behind enough in the animation department enough as it is. Emily is the closest thing we have to Henry right now… and if something happens to her, everything could fall apart."

There was silence before Joey agreed, "You're right, Samuel… but you're also wrong about one thing."

"Hm? And what is that?"

"Emily's not Henry. She may have been close to him when he was here, but that doesn't mean anything."

Emily looked down. Everyone had kept telling her that she was the closest thing they had to Henry since he left, and she always felt a surge of pride because she was able to do the same thing he did. But, now…

A loud thunk broke her concentration and Emily watched in startled horror as Sammy Lawrence's body hit the floor. The shadow of Joey Drew returned something from the table before he reached down, grabbing one of Sammy's legs, and dragged him from the room.

Emily turned to the Boris',whom had heard and seen everything she had and where beginning to shake visibly.

"Where is he taking Sammy?"

Brendan motioned for her to follow him. Wally and Carter left to return to the safehouse, clearly not wanting to know what was going on.

Around another turn and up a small flight of stairs, Brendan opened another trap door and proceeded to look around before climbing out. He held out a gloved hand, pulling Emily out of the trap door. He indicated to stay low and pointed to above the barrel's they were currently hiding behind.

Emily peaked over and discovered a large room, almost four times the size as the room they were previously in. barrels filled the room on a small walkway round a great pool, fill with black liquid. The light that crept in from above reflected on the dark water below, as well as on several pipes and chains that were in the room.

Brendan poked on Emily's shoulder before pointing upward toward a balcony.

Joey Dew stood before what looked like a control console, pressing and pushing on levers and buttons before a loud rattling noise filled the room. Bubbling erupted from the ink pool as a strange device was pulled from the depths.

It was large and intimidating, with long tubes coming from beneath it. A small platform sat at the entrance of the machine, where a pipe opened up to. The heavy chains suspended it in mid-air as it rattled aggressively. Emily recognized it instantly, although she had never seen it before.

This was the Ink Machine that Joey had created upon Henry's departure.

"Now," Joey's voice echoed off the empty walls, "Perhaps you'll be enough, Sammy."

Suddenly, a loud splashing sound was heard and more rattling noises sounded out, even louder than before. Emily covered her ears and closed her eyes as the room began to shake and shudder as the machine roared with life. Brendan had also ducked down, ears press against the back of his head.

Then, all was quiet.

Emily peeked above the barrels in time to see a sickly sight.

A large black blob was pushed from the entrance of the machine. It squirmed with life, bubbling and popping before an inky hand broke from the ink. Another followed as a body was slowly revealed, the ink falling from around it. The creature looked very human, standing on two legs, but dripping from head to foot with ink. It had no face, but it's mouth was open, breathing and wheezing as it gasped at the air.

Emily covered her mouth in awe, tears again filling her eyes as the creature spoke with Sammy's voice, "W-what?"

It was here that Brendan pulled Emily close to him, jumping into the trap door, shutting it quickly and quietly.